The Long-Standing Online Campaign, beginning in Germany, travelling through Italy and Greece to the Sea of Azov.

Friday, May 5, 2017

Climbing into the Karamio Hills

Come the morning of the 20th, the party begins along the road west of Kefe, circling the bay in a couple of hours until ~ with a little directions ~ reaching the cart tracks on the left side of the road that will take them up into the South Karamio Hills. It is a fine, cool day for hiking, with a light rain that lasts until you enter the forest and begin to a gentle climb. It quits soon after.

The hills, you will find, have a sharp drop of fifty or sixty feet on the south side, with a long gentle slope on the north, what is called a "cuesta." Marciana leads the camel(s) behind the party, remarking on the ease of the route, as a cart rack ~ grassy, with ruts ~ leads the way.

She has explained that she has heard the rumors, but doubts if there are any real "cities" to be found. There are many caves in the Yaila Mountains, the term for all the mountains of south Crimea, but only those in the highest ranges are unexplored. These hills where you're travelling now have been tramped over for centuries, so you are unlikely to find anything.

You look about at the thick forest, full of thickets, and find it difficult to believe that there can't be places that might not have remained hidden, even after all this time. The land looks overgrown, with high grass growing into dry thorn bushes, from which emerge tall mastic trees, fat oaks, tangled ash trees and 125 foot pine trees.

Marciana tells that she hasn't spent much time in the bush here, much more on the plains in the last two years that she has been in Crimea; she's been on this road only once before. The thing to worry is the large Crimean lizards; they're fifteen feet long and are known to emerge from the bushes to attack travellers. She is not too worried, however, as this road gets a lot of travellers ~ and that is true, the ruts show a lot of use.

In fact, along about noon, as you've climbed to a point where you can see the Black Sea in the distance, you begin to meet carts loaded with wood rolling down out of the forest, one about ever ten minutes or so. This holds you up quite a bit, as Marciana has to move the camel(s) off the road, keeping them calm and then moving forward again. As such, moving against this stream, it takes about two hours before you reach a tiny settlement called Aknar, where the road ends.

Aknar is little more than a carter's post, with stables for donkeys and mules, granaries for feed grain, huge dumps of logs being brought out of the forest and at least a dozen saw pits ~ that you can see ~ that are right now in steady use. About fifty men can be seen working hard to shave and straighten the logs, some to cut them into beams or lumber, others loading the logs onto carts and some wrestling with the animals to get them into position to be loaded. When a cart is loaded, it begins to descend down the road on its way to Kefe.

Not bad thinking, Kismet, we will need lumber to build but I also wonder if there won't be closer sources to home and whether it will be any more complicated than reading and buying from a market list.

Sofia stops to pull from her waterskin and survey the camp. Which people appear to be bringing the logs in from the woods? These I would like to question if possible re: the hills, dangers aside from the aforementioned lizards and, despite anticipating some funny looks, cave cities.

(I'm preparing for a short camping trip today so will be on and off the computer but out of pocket tomorrow and Sunday until the evening.)

Yes, there will be closer sources to Rosk, though not as rich as this.

You see no one bringing in material from the forest. Your questions yield answers that this is the wood collected up until yesterday. Today's parties won't return with new wood until near sunset.

People do laugh as you refer to cave cities, talking about how every once in awhile some foreigner gets the idea that they exist. You're told they were all cleared out long ago. But some mention that there are half-orc bandits and old orc tribes that are known to thrive in the Bolat Range.

The nearer country is criss-crossed with cart-tracks two or three miles into the forest, but after that the forest grows quite wild and you may not find a way for your camels. Marciana has never been further than the camp.

[I am sorry we weren't able to do more today. For the record, I plan to make Fridays my day of dedication, whenever possible. It is best I can do just now. Please take care and know that I'm off tomorrow too, though I will be focused on my book]

We could turn west into the Bolat if you gents are feeling adventurous. I am. If there are cities there, abandoned or not, there must be pathways to take us there. We do risk getting lost, and having trouble with the camels, BUT... cave cities. We could wait and rest a bit, awaiting the parties returning for the day to see if any of those who range further afield have more information.

Good idea Kismet. If the locals are willing we could camp just within or just outside of this camp and leave behind Marciana, the camels and much of the gear.

Alexis, Sofia will question the crews after they return as we did the workers here as soon as she is able to do so. She's looking for specific information on cave cities, and if any materializes or anybody simply takes us seriously, looking to hire a guide into the forests to find one.

(OOC: Perhaps if Friday is a dedicated day to run for us all, we can work the logistics out through the week in small doses.)

As we are not getting any more info out of the camp, I suppose we just strike out. I suggest we move Southwest into the southernmost hex of the Bolat range, looking for any overgrown paths and or signs of ruin as we are able. We can take it one hex at a time, working our way north.

Sofia wears no armor and has an AC 6. She will carry her glaive in one hand and keep her other hand free. I will update what else I'm bringing on my character sheet. I recommend you guys grab 2-3 days of rations with whatever else you bring.

As for focus, I think we want to focus along the base of the south-facing cliffs of the cuestras. If there be cities, wouldn't we best see their signs from this vantage? I'm assuming they'd be built into the cliff faces and hidden from sight from the ridges. What say you guys?

"1) Can you tell me what armor you're wearing and give me your armor class as you hike through the forest. I have to tell you, if you're wearing heavy armor, I'm going to half your travel speed through the rough, untended forest beyond the area the camp is cutting from."

I'm going to go ahead and spitball that Kismet's"Long distance running skill allows daily on foot travel to be increased by 40%."Wont help negate the heavy armor penalty. Basically due to the fact that it is either endurance or running based.

If so, he'll switch out his banded for studded leather and a shieldwhich appears to put his AC at 6.

He will continue to wear his leather gloves and helmet of course.

2) What are you carrying in each hand?Odds are this is his shield and probably his machete if needed (thick underbrush) to help get through.

I will update my sheet with weights as appropriate tonight.I need to figure out which clothing items aren't required now and then shift things around.

Kismet brings up another point. I will need to know your combat movements.

I have in mind the layout of the hex you'll be investigating. I want to emphasize that it will be an investigation and not a guaranteed destination. You don't know if there's anything specific in the hex where you plan to search, or how long you'll need to search to find or not find it. The region will be dangerous, I will be causing wilderness damage on a random daily basis, a simple roll once per day for each person to see if there's a chance of slipping, falling (never a great distance, just sliding down a trail and such), cutting oneself on a tree, etc. None of it will be immediately life threatening, but it will winnow you down from day to day, a tough go since there's no cleric in the party. But I think fair, since you're going to a place that is so rough in terrain that it has kept out exploitation and settlement for 2200 years of continuous history, since the Greeks first found colonies on the shore in the 6th century BC.

Please sign off on that; I won't guarantee that you'll find what you're looking for, but it is safe to assume you'll find something in that dangerous country.

So, ironically it's the monk that will slow the party down. Due to Sofia's size and strength and the amount of gear I'm carrying she's at a -3 MP, or 3. I can get faster if you guys either take or have: 50' of rope, a grapple, a crowbar, some torches (I will keep the lantern and oil and consider this our primary light source).

She doesn't know the proper feeding, care, maintenance and so on of a horse. She doesn't know how much food it should eat, how to groom it, the importance of walking the horse daily or how to do it, etcetera.

I'm saying that Enrico did not consider hiring a handler for the horse as well and now you have a problem.

Sofia asks around the camp. There were carts on the road between here and Kefe, so surely somebody here must be skilled with horses. She asks which people have such skills and then asks to hire one, either to work directly for the party as does Marciana or to add Carragio to their responsibilities for a cost.

That would involve someone walking out on a contract (since everyone here is employed), then having to remain in the vicinity of their ex-employer for a stranger who may pay more, but wouldn't then be present ~ and without knowing how long the new gig would last.

I don't want to spend all day trying to figure out Enrico's horse ~ and unfortunately Enrico tends to disappear for a long time. So I'm going to let this slide this one time. In truth, the carter's post would be jammed full of workers and no one would have the time to look after Enrico's horse. It would be like asking a restaurant to store your groceries for a few hours while you take a walk about the mall. Like I said, however, I don't want to waste time on it. The real solution would be to return to Kefe and HIRE the right person to look after the horse. That should have been thought of and the penalty of wasting a day to go back to Kefe and do it right should be enforced.

But let's leave the horse at the camp with Marciana and head out. This will mean that Enrico does not have access to his heavier armor, which will be a plus.

I'm going to write a post that will cover three days of exploration, assuming that you don't chance to find something right off.

Ascribe it to unfamiliarity with the sage rules. The whole problem with creating these abilities is that is suddenly makes things that players once took for granted no longer possible. With the invention of skills we also invent the inconvenience of specificity.